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Overview
Do men and women laugh at the same things?Is laughter contagious?
Has anyone ever really died laughing?
Is laughing good for your health?
Drawing upon ten years of research into this most common-yet complex and often puzzling-human phenomenon, Dr. Robert Provine, the world's leading scientific expert on laughter, investigates such aspects of his subject as its evolution, its role in social relationships, its contagiousness, its neural mechanisms, and its health benefits. This is an erudite, wide-ranging, witty, and long-overdue exploration of a frequently surprising subject.
Synopsis
The first comprehensive, scientific—and often humorous—look at one of our most common yet complex and puzzling behaviors, by the recognized expert in the field
Guffaws in a crowded bar, giggles that punctuate lovers' murmurs, a blaring TV laugh track—the sounds of laughter are a fundamental part of life's texture. Science has largely overlooked this basic component of our humanity, but in Laughter neurobiologist Robert Provine takes a long-anticipated and wide-ranging look at this intriguing and surprising topic.
Based on a decade of work in the field, Provine reveals that laughter is mostly a tool in social relationships rather than a simple response to humor; that women laugh more at men than vice versa; that speakers tend to laugh more than their audiences; that tickling rather than being a reflex is actually a form of communication. Drawing upon the latest evidence, much of it presented here for the first time, Provine's analysis of laughter includes such diverse topics as the sonic analysis of laughter, how laughter has been musically notated in opera scores, a 1962 laughing epidemic that immobilized an entire African community, and the genuine health benefits of laughing.
Laughter is the rare science book that is both a groundbreaking study and wonderfully entertaining exploration of the human animal.
Sunday Times London
A model of constructive scientific thinking....findings were revolutionary.
Editorials
Scientific American
Provine's well-written, often amusing and always fascinating expose' presents laughter in all its complexity and with all its contradictions.Sunday Times London
A model of constructive scientific thinking....findings were revolutionary.Financial Times London
Pulls off the trick of transforming the commonplace business of laughter into something strange and new.New York Times
Laughter, the "ancient vocal relic" that "predates both humor and speech," proves to be a fascinating topic.Ottawa Citizen
Not an unmitigated hoot, but it is certainly worthwhile.Guradian
Enjoyable fairground tour of the science of the laugh.Scotsman Edinburgh
A pioneering investigation into the hows and whys of what it means to chuckle.Daily Mail London
Nice lightness of touch...packed with fascinating quirkey facts.Evening Standard
This crisply written, often hilarious book....might make you giggly for days.— (London)
The Arizona Republic
It's fascinating-enjoy.—(Phoenix)
Newsweek
Scanning brains and eavesdropping on chimps, researchers are figuring out why we chuckle, guffaw and crack up.Dallas Morning News
Some seriously funny research.Sciences
It's fun to read Provine's observations about inappropriate laughter, why it's impossible to tickle oneself, and what might have constituted a joke in the eyes of a Neanderthal.Elle
Provine's appealingly unembarassed goofy curiosity ("While tickling chimpanzees in an attempt to stimulate laughter, I made two related discoveries ...") allows him to stage his own geekiness with gusto: "Panksepp knows how to pleasure his rats," he tells us admiringly about another scientist's tickle research. Like the philosopher Thomas Hobbes, who saw laughter as the expression of a sudden glory, Provine sees laughter as our song, our version of birdsong, hower sonically impoverished, and maybe his most eloquent experiment involved acoustically removing the laugh notes themselves from a recoded laugh. What was left was a long, unvoiced, breathy aspiration: a sigh.Boston Herald
Laughter isn't about jokes, it's about relationships. That's why it's no fun to laugh alone.KLIATT
This is that rare serious work of scientific scholarship that can attract a varied general readership. Built from a perspective based on neuroscience and comparisons of human and animal behavior, it ranges from the evolution of vocal chords to the history of TV laugh tracks. A chapter on tickling serves as a fine example of the way Provine weaves together science, social science and just plain good thinking and observation. Billed as the world's leading scientific expert on laughter, Provine's study certainly substantiates that claim. The book's length is not overly intimidating, and its nine chapters are clearly enough titled to let some readers browse with comfort. KLIATT Codes: SA—Recommended for senior high school students, advanced students, and adults. 2000, Penguin, 258p. notes. bibliog. index., LevinsonBooknews
From a ten-year ethnological study of laughter that retains some levity, Provine (psychology and neuroscience, U. of Maryland- Baltimore) proceeds from philosophical, theoretical, and natural history perspectives to paleohumorology, brain physiology, abnormal and healthy laughter. Includes tips for increasing laughter. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)Robert R. Provine
Provine's well-written, often amusing, and always fascinating exposé presents laughter in all its complexity and with all its contradictions.—Scientific American